Infested!
by DarkAngelSnapeLover
Summary: When Mrs. MacGrady discovers rats in the Lakewood Elementary cafeteria, her and Principal Haney immediately handle the situation. But when the story breaks, the overly-concerned Crosswire's take over the situation, blowing it out of proportion and turning the Lakewood community against the school. Can the school be redeemed? One-shot. For 100 Themes challenge.


**Infested!**

Mrs. MacGrady looked over the cafeteria's storeroom with horror. She'd come in on a Saturday morning to retrieve a forgotten hat just to find herself surrounded by evidence, evidence of an infestation like none had ever seen before. She sighed, sinking onto a stool and looking the mess over.

She had to do something about the rats, but she knew that could be expensive. Dialing the number using a small book in her purse, she called Principal Haney. Within the hour, he was there with a friend of his, an exterminator.

"We'll take care of all of this, Sarah. For Monday, I've already altered the menu to read sandwiches and chips. You can make those somewhere else, right?" Principal Haney asked. Mrs. MacGrady nodded. "It'll be okay, Sarah. None of this is your fault."

"Yep," the exterminator nodded, pulling down a protective hood before entering the cafeteria's back room. Mrs. MacGrady grimaced as the poison clouded the window. She sighed again before heading to her car for a good cry.

"Oh my god, that is vomitrotious!" Muffy cried, backing away from her laptop. "Francine! Did you see the school's page this morning?" she called into her bathroom. Francine emerged wearing smeared pink lip gloss, a gift from the picky Muffy.

"No," Francine replied. "What about it?" she asked, accepting a napkin from Muffy as she began to read. "Wow, the school had a rat problem in the cafeteria?" Francine said with a surprised yet confused tone. "What's so bad about that?"

"Rats carry diseases, Francine! Oh, wait until Mother hears this!" Muffy cried.

"Wait, it says they took care of it with an exterminator. It's been fixed!" Francine called after her friend, but it was too late, and a few minutes later, Ed Crosswire was on the phone with Principal Haney to get the details. As Francine said, the problem was gone, but the ladies of the Crosswire household were not pleased.

"I'll send over our guy from the dealership," Ed suggested.

"Daddy, no! Don't tell me your dealership has begs too!" Muffy cried, sitting on the nearby couch with a heavy sigh as if she were fainting.

"Living in the city has its risks, Muffin," Ed nodded. "We even get the house's perimeter sprayed every few weeks to keep the bugs out of here. It's a natural thing. If the problem is handled, then it's perfectly safe."

"Yeah, Muffy," Francine sighed. "At least you don't have dirty neighbors practically feeding the cockroaches and rats," Francine shuddered.

"That's horrible! Daddy, can Francine come live with us?" Muffy begged.

"No, I like my house. And it's clean, Muffy, just like the cafeteria. I bet Mrs. MacGrady feels horrible about it too so don't rub it in her face, okay?" Francine asked darkly.

Muffy nodded, but she wanted to tell the others. And before the day was over, she'd done just that, stirring up all of Lakewood Elementary's parents in the process.

"How did this get so out of hand?" Mrs. MacGrady cried, looking out the window at the mob of parents waiting outside. Most of the students were still at home, but their parents wanted answers about the infestation problem.

"I know exactly what caused this, better yet 'who'," Principal Haney murmured, looking at the exterminator truck parked outside the school. "Ed Crosswire and his family caused this, thinking the school couldn't possibly be clean if they didn't know the man in charge of the job. I think I'll call him to send his security officials to deal with this while the superintendent gets himself together."

"You called Bob?!" Mrs. MacGrady exclaimed.

"What choice did I have, Sarah? This has gotten out of hand and I didn't know what else to do," Principal Haney sighed, looking over the crowd. "He'll be here soon. If you want to go home, you can."

"No, I think I'll stay and defend-"

"It's out of your hands now, Sarah. Please, just go home," Principal Haney whispered, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. She nodded, gathering her things and sneaking out the back parking lot.

Days later, the issue was still out of hand. Only a handful of students came through the lunch line, and the frown on Mrs. MacGrady's face could be seen across the cafeteria. Francine noticed and felt disgusted. She refused to sit with Muffy, and she chose to sit with Ladonna instead.

"There's an old swamp legend about a man who's half-croc, half-rat!" she cried, giving Buster and Arthur a spooky look. "They say he eats fisherman who stay out too late after dark. But that's probably something an old officer came up with to keep everyone from breaking the rules," she laughed.

"How could he be like that? I bet he was an alien," Buster nodded firmly.

Francine rolled her eyes. This table wasn't better, she realized, eying Mrs. MacGrady carefully. Francine was the only one in her class to go through the line, and though Francine thanked her for the food, she wished she could say more.

"Hey Francine, why the long face?" Ladonna asked, putting a homemade sandwich in her mouth.

"You know why," Francine hissed, looking away.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't," Ladonna smiled. "Please let me know. Arthur and Buster are curious too," she offered.

"She's upset about the infestation," Arthur whispered.

"And that's why I should know, because I'm eating a sandwich from home?" Ladonna asked. Francine looked to them and nodded. "I'll have you know, Francine, that I don't eat school lunch. It's not the same as what I had at home, so I'd rather have my old favorites. This here is a fried bologna sandwich."

"Ew fried?!" Arthur grimaced.

"Cool!" Buster grinned, almost ripping the sandwich from Ladonna's hand to try a bite.

"And even if I wanted what they had, to be honest, I don't think Momma could afford to feed all of us. You're lucky," she smiled, nodding slightly.

"What about you two?" Francine asked coldly, turning to the boys.

"Well-" Arthur stammered.

"Our moms wouldn't let us," Buster sighed. "She's making good lunches though, so that's nice, but I miss Pizza Fridays."

"Same here," Arthur nodded.

"If we all feel this way, then why are we hurting Mrs. MacGrady's feelings? Look at her!" Francine pleaded, but when they looked to her usual spot, she was gone. "I bet she went to hide her face because she feels so hurt."

"Not quite, Frankie," Mrs. MacGrady called. Francine turned around to see Mrs. MacGrady smiling. "It's nice that you want to help an old girl like me out, but this is out of my hands. Whoever started this mess is to blame, and well, there isn't much I can do. It's alright though. Once that fancy exterminator gets out some official report, we should be in the clear."

But she was wrong. The Crosswire exterminator found more problems, all of them expensive. He showed his report to Principal Haney while Ed Crosswire stood behind him. The issue was out of hand now, and Principal Haney was finished with the entire ordeal.

"Are the rats gone for now?" Principal Haney asked. The exterminator nodded. "Well then, we have nothing more to discuss. This is a public school, and unless your deep pockets are going to cover the cost, then we have nothing to say here. Bring it up with the system, but you will not drag this through my clean school."

"But-"

"No, Ed, I'm done with this. Sarah MacGrady is the greatest cafeteria worker this school has ever seen-this nation! She beat cancer to continue serving this community, and this is how we repay her? I've never seen her look so horrible, and it's because of you and your daughter telling this school's student body that we don't serve safe food. No, I'm done with the extermination business. I want him to leave and I want you to walk with me to the television studio to straighten this mess out."

"Well if there's still-"

"The rats are gone, Ed," the exterminator said, patting his shoulder before leaving.

"Well I stand corrected then," Ed muttered, rocking on his heels. He then pulled out his cellphone to call for the limo...and the air time to straighten everything out for good.

"Happy day, students!" Mrs. MacGrady cheered, her and the other workers passing out food as quickly as they could. After the news broke on television, everyone decided the problem was over and sent their children through the lunch lines again. The only exception was Ladonna and Buster who sat together eating fried bologna sandwiches. Francine was happy with the day's menu option-steak nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and a fruit cup-and she vowed to stand behind her cafeteria workers no matter what for the rest of her days.

~End

Theme 081: Tackling Obstacles

This one-shot was completed as part of a theme list challenge. See my profile for details.


End file.
